It’s nearly impossible for Beyonce to make a low-key announcement. So when the multi-platinum performer posted a cryptic message to her website on Thursday (July 26), music fans and bloggers were left scrambling to decode its meaning.

“Leave your footprint on 19 August 2012,” is the messages she posted to Beyonce.com (See below).  There were no shortage of possibilities: Is it a follow up to Beyonce’s Pulse (Summer Edition) perfume? Does it involve daughter Blue Ivy? Is it an announcement for a new album on the heels of her latest platinum release 4? New music seems like a good bet.

In February, Ryan Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman who collaborated with B for “Halo,” spilled the beans about the songs he was pitching her for upcoming album, including parenthood-themed music.

“I would say that that goes without saying,” Tedder told The BoomBox then. ”The conversations about her next album literally just started and there [are] two projects happening,” he said. “All I can say is you kind of feed her the best that you have and she’s this phenomenal filter and she takes it all in.”

Adding fuel to the musical fire is a comment made by British pop act Conor Maynard, who explained to the BBC some of the drastic measures Bey has taken to prevent her next album from being leaked.

“With Beyonce, I heard that with her people they’ll make sure that there’s no one in the studio,” Maynard said, no doubt a response to Beyonce’s last set suffering a leak three weeks ahead of release in 2011. “Once she’s finished recording, they move it onto a hard drive. They wipe the studio computer again and then leave.” The mystery continues.  —Keith Murphy, CBS Local